The effect of environment and stage of the oestrous cycle on the behaviour of dairy cows

Phillips, Clive J. C.; Schofield, S.A.

doi:10.1016/0168-1591(90)90004-w

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Effects of milk yield and flooring on sexual behavior is well documented in the literature (Phillips and Schofield, 1990;Lopez et al, 2004). The present data provide information on sexual behavior that is more or less unrelated to the suppressing effect of high milk yield and concrete floors.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…Frequencies per hour were not reported in these studies but are relevant in visual heat detection. The higher total mounting activity reported in the present study, as compared with previous studies, could be due to one or a combination of various positive factors, including spontaneous estruses (Walton et al, 1987), soft flooring (Phillips and Schofield, 1990), moderate milk yield (Lopez et al, 2004), or good BCS (Pennington et al, 1986), as these have all been described previously as affecting estrus expression. Nevertheless, mounting was not a consistent sign of all cows in STE in the current study.…”

Section: Behavior During Stecontrasting

confidence: 46%

“…These signs, in addition to aggressive and mounting behaviors, were later quantified by Esslemont et al (1980). However, as anogenital sniffing and chin resting also occur in other stages of the estrous cycle (Phillips and Schofield, 1990), the challenge for the observer is to determine whether a cow exhibiting this behavior is in STE. Although more recent papers report such behavior as a prominent sign of estrus Kerbrat and Disenhaus, 2004), other social behaviors in cattle associated with estrus are not well documented (Mülleder et al, 2003;Kerbrat and Disenhaus, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavior of lactating Holstein-Friesian cows during spontaneous cycles of estrus

Sveberg

Refsdal²,

Erhard

et al. 2011

Journal of Dairy Science

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The objectives of the present study were to describe, in detail, behavior associated with standing estrus (STE) in lactating dairy cows and behavioral changes during complete estrous cycles. Estrus signs were monitored by continuous video recording of 20 Holstein-Friesian (HF) cows housed on an outdoor wood-chip pad during 1 estrous cycle (22 d). Other social behavior was recorded during STE and, for comparison, during 1 selected day when none of the cows were in estrus. Standing stationary when mounted was defined as the primary estrus sign. Anogenital sniff, chin rest, attempt to mount, and mount were defined as secondary estrus signs. Ovarian cyclicity was confirmed by progesterone measurements. This study reports short mean duration of STE (7.1 ± 1.44 h) and estrus (mount period; 12.9 ± 1.84 h) of the 13 cows expressing these signs. All mounting activities involved at least one cow in, or within 4 h of, STE. The most frequent sign during STE was anogenital sniff initiated, followed by chin rest received, chin rest initiated, chase up initiated, anogenital sniff received, mount initiated, head butt, mount received, attempt to mount initiated, push away received, play rub, attempt to mount received, follow initiated, threat received, flehmen, avoid, bellow, and social lick received. Standing and mounting activity in HF cows was inconsistent during estrus, indicating that other signs could be of greater use. The frequency of secondary estrus signs initiated and received increased gradually during the last 12 h before STE, revealing significant differences between periods from 4 to 6 and 1 to 3 h before STE. A considerable increase in receptive behavior (secondary estrus signs received) was identified between 1 to 3 h prior to STE and STE. Both frequent initiated and received behaviors were associated with STE. A significant decrease in the frequency of secondary estrus signs initiated and received occurred 3 h after STE. Cows in STE simultaneously predominantly chose the other standing cow as mate and expressed secondary estrus signs more frequently. Based on the results of this study, we suggest that chase up could be regarded as a reliable indicator of estrus and that the changes in proceptive (initiated) and receptive (received) behavior could be used as predictors of different stages in estrus. Knowledge of these behavioral signs may improve heat detection rates and the ability to predict the optimum breeding time for dairy cows.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Behavior During Stecontrasting

confidence: 46%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavior of lactating Holstein-Friesian cows during spontaneous cycles of estrus

Sveberg

Refsdal²,

Erhard

et al. 2011

Journal of Dairy Science

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“…This effect of oestrus can be directly related to the significantly reduced feed intake amount on the day of oestrus found in the current study. A reduced feeding time on the day of oestrus was observed earlier in 20 Friesian cows held in a straw yard by Phillips and Schofield (1990). They recorded an increase in feeding time on the day before oestrus and a decrease on the day of oestrus and the day after oestrus when compared to all remaining days of the oestrus cycle.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Investigations on automatically measured feed intake amount in dairy cows during the oestrus period

Halli

Koch²,

Romberg

et al. 2015

Arch. Anim. Breed.

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Abstract. The aim of this study was to determine whether feed intake amount and feed intake behaviour could be related to oestrus in dairy cows. Furthermore, we investigated whether oestrus had an effect on daily milk yield. A total of 138 oestrus cycles, leading to conception of 100 cows, were analysed. The parameters "daily fresh matter intake amount (kg)", "daily number of visits to the feeding trough" and "time spent feeding per day (min)" were electronically measured and recorded. For a sub-quantity of all animals, daily milk yield (kg) was recorded continuously and stored in the herd management software. Special attention was given to the day of oestrus, which was defined as the day of successful insemination. All remaining days of the oestrus cycle were considered as the reference period. Among all animals and cycles, fresh matter intake amount per day, number of visits per day, and time spent feeding per day were reduced by 10.3, 9.1 and 20.8 %, respectively, on the day of oestrus. Fresh matter intake was significantly lower in primiparous cows than in multiparous cows. However, number of visits to the trough and time spent feeding per day were significantly higher in primiparous cows compared to multiparous cows. Day of oestrus did not have a significant effect on daily milk yield, as this parameter was characterized by high variation among all days of the oestrus cycle. In conclusion, if an RIC system is used, monitoring of feeding behaviour appears to be a potential auxiliary aid in oestrus detection.

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“…Studies published previously revealed that standing to be mounted was most characteristic for estrus (Hurnik et al, 1975;Phillips and Schofield, 1990). However, Lyimo et al (2000) reported that standing to be mounted by another cow can no more be considered a sure indication of estrus because this behavior is not found in all cows (Diskin and Sreenan, 2000;Roelofs et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Influence of estrus on dry matter intake, water intake and BW of dairy cows

Reith

Pries²,

Verhülsdonk³

et al. 2014

Animal

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The objectives of this study were to analyze whether dry matter intake (DMI), water intake (WI) and BW were influenced by estrus. A second objective was to determine whether correlations exist among these traits in non-estrous days. Data collection included 34 Holstein-Friesian cows from the research farm 'Haus Riswick' of the Agricultural Chamber North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. On an individual basis, daily DMI and daily WI were measured automatically by a scale in the feeding trough and a WI monitoring system, respectively. BW was determined by a walk-through scale fitted with two gates -one in front and one behind the scale floor. Data were analyzed around cow's estrus with day 0 (the day of artificial insemination leading to conception). Means during the reference period, defined as days − 3 to − 1 and 1 to 3, were compared with the means during estrus (day 0). DMI, WI and BW were affected by estrus. Of all cows, 85.3% and 66.7% had reduced DMI and WI, respectively, on day 0 compared with the reference period. Lower BW was detected in 69.2% of all cows relative to the reference period. During the reference period, average DMI, WI and BW were 23.0, 86.6 and 654.8 kg. A minimum DMI of 20.4 kg and a minimum BW of 644.2 kg were detected on the day of estrus, whereas the minimum WI occurred on the day before estrus. After estrus, DMI, WI and BW returned to baseline values. Intake of concentrated feed did not seem to be influenced by estrus. Positive correlations existed between daily DMI and daily WI (r = 0.63) as well as between cows' daily BW and daily WI (r = 0.23). The results warrant further investigations to determine whether monitoring of DMI, WI and BW may assist in predicting estrus.

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The effect of environment and stage of the oestrous cycle on the behaviour of dairy cows

Cited by 20 publications

References 10 publications

Behavior of lactating Holstein-Friesian cows during spontaneous cycles of estrus

Behavior of lactating Holstein-Friesian cows during spontaneous cycles of estrus

Investigations on automatically measured feed intake amount in dairy cows during the oestrus period

Influence of estrus on dry matter intake, water intake and BW of dairy cows

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